On August 9, 1847, not one month after the pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley , Brigham Young asked Jesse C. Little to lead an exploring party north into the country that Miles Goodyear had described. Jesse C. Little was a Lt. Colonel in the Mormon Battalion, president of the Eastern States Mission and a capable pioneer leader. Of his visit to the Goodyear Fort, Little records:

"At Weber River we found a fort of Mr. Goodyear which consists of some log buildings and corrals stockaded in with pickets. This man had a herd of cattle, horses and goats. He had a small garden of vegetables, also a few stalks of corn, and although it had been neglected, it looks well, which proved to us that with proper cultivation it would do well"

The pioneers were very interested in the corn grown by Goodyear as they felt that if they could get corn to mature and harvest it, they could get any crop to grow and thus be assured of permanent settlement. Captain James Brown, of the Mormon Battalion, arrived in Salt Lake on July 29 th . In August he left to go to California to get the rest of the pay for his men. While passing through Weber he stopped off to visit Goodyear's place. He was well pleased with the general appearance of things and approached Miles about purchasing his place. Miles was asking $2,000 but the Saints were unable to come up with that much money. When Captain Brown returned from California he had $3,000 for his men and himself. After negotiations, consideration by the high council and various visits by the brethren to the homestead, a deal was closed on November 24, 1947. Captain James Brown turned over $1,950 to Miles Goodyear and in return received a deed to the land, all improvements, 75 goats, 12 sheep, 75 cattle and 6 horses. The deed described the purchased land as follows: 'commencing at the mouth of Weber Canyon and following the base of the mountains north to the hot springs; thence wet to the Salt Lake; thence south along the shore to a point opposite Weber Canyon; thence east to the beginning.' Miles Goodyear, the first citizen of Utah , died at age 32, on November 12, 1849. He was but 32 years of age. His brother, Andrew, said of him that no savage came to his lodge but he would divide with him his last morsel. Amasa Lyman and Jedediah Grant had gone with Captain Brown to advise him on the purchase of Goodyear's property. They reported to Brigham Young the advisability of buying the property and Brown actually turned over 3,000 Spanish doubloons, which was worth $1,950 in American dollars.

On January 12, 1848, Captain James Brown sent his sons, Alexander and Jesse, to take care of the livestock left by Miles Goodyear at Fort Buenaventura . Two months later Captain Brown moved the remainder of his family there. Shortly thereafter they were joined by families of Henry C. Shelton, Louis B. Myers, George W. Thurlkill, Robert Crow, Reuben Henry, Van Stewart, William Stewart, Artemus Sprague, Daniel Burch, Ruth Stewart and her eight children and Dr. William McIntire. The Brown family took possession of the fort with the other settlers scattered along the Weber River . Some went as far north as the Ogden River . The majority of these early colonists settled in the southwest section of the present city at 28 th Street west of Pacific Ave. Fort Buenaventura became known as Brown's Fort. Brown's Settlement and Brownsville during the next two years. Brownsville became most prominent until Brigham Young and the Legislative Assembly changed it to Ogden City . Brown retained all the livestock and 300 acres of the immense amount of land he had purchased from Goodyear. The rest of the land was given out to new colonist's without cost as they came north to settle. There remained some dispute of how much of the purchase price of $1,950 was actually Brown's and how much rightly belonged to other members of the Mormon Battalion.

Brown's sons, Alexander and Jesse, made a plow and were the first to turn the sod in Ogden . In the spring of 1848 they planted five acres of wheat, a patch of corn, turnips, cabbage, potatoes and watermelons. They were also first to build a dam and divert water to their planted ground. The first winter in Salt Lake was extremely hard, there being a scarcity of food. In the Spring of 1848 millions of crickets arrived to torment the settlers by devouring their crops until the seagulls arrived to save them. The settlers in Ogden did not suffer as much as those in Salt Lake as they went to Fort Hall some 160 miles to the north to obtain flour. They brought back 600 pounds of flour, 200 hundred pounds being retained by the Ogden settlers and the other 400 pounds sent to Salt Lake . The main food supply for that winter was the dairy products produced by Brown's cows. The Captain's family milked 75 cows and slaughtered some which they shared freely with the other settlers. Mary Black Brown, one of James' wives, made several hundred pounds of butter and cheese during that first year.

The pioneers suffered somewhat from the crickets but in no degree near the losses that were suffered in Salt Lake . Brown raised 100 bushels of wheat and 75 bushels of corn and other crops. They retained what they needed and sent south the remainder to help the starving Salt Lake settlers. This donation was of vital importance in rescuing their friends in Salt Lake from starvation. At a time when Brown might readily have sold his breadstuff at $10 per hundred he sold it to his hungry brethren at $4 per sack of flour. T he people of Weber County speak with grateful appreciation of the public benevolence of their pioneer, Captain James Brown, to the public at large. With help and others like him, the colonists survived that first hard winter in the valley.

The families of Ezra Chase (Nancy Bailey Chase's father) and Charles Hubbard came to Weber County in the fall of 1848 and settled at a place later called Mound Fort, a half a mile west of 16 th and Washington Blvd. In the spring of 1849 the families of Ambrose and William Shaw arrived to join Chase and Hubbard. The families plowed, planted and dug the first irrigation ditch from the Ogden River to their plots. Ezra Chase harvested 100 bushels of potatoes that fall, along with a good harvest of wheat and corn. There were no gristmills in Ogden as yet so the farmers had to take their crops to Neff's Mill, seven miles south of Salt Lake , a round trip of 100 miles. By the fall of 1849, two years after the Goodyear purchase, some 33 families had joined James Brown in Ogden . Pioneer life was hard in these new settlements with some settlers living in dugouts and sleeping on piles of straw or straw ticks. Often they had little more than ground grain to eat. Yet these settlers fared better that winter of 1849 than the 75 families of Shoshones and 60 families of Utes who suffered heavy losses due to an outbreak of measles.

Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Jedediah Grant and others visited the people in Ogden in September 1849. This was the first visit by the pioneer leader and marked the beginning of annual visits he would pay to this and other communities he would direct the settlement of. His clerk, Thomas Bullock, reported of their visit to Ogden City : "Here were regaled with plenty of mountain trout. Ogden's Fork is about a rod wide and eighteen inches deep, the water is soft and clear and the banks of the river lined with willows, rose bushes and small trees". Ezra Chase said that the land was very productive in grain. Good instruction was given by Brigham Young and the other leaders in meetings they held. President Young gave the right to James Brown to build a toll bridge over the Weber and collect fees to cross. He also laid out the sight of Ogden City . In October at general conference it was voted to lay out the city of Ogden . Now, Brigham Young, needed a colonizer in his image to take charge of this new community and see that it got proper direction as many settlers would come to Ogden . He turned to 29 year old Lorin Farr, a tried and trusted leader, who had passed through all the trials of Missouri and Illinois to represent President Young in Ogden .

Brigham Young felt that the location of Ogden City should be on the 160 acre farm of Brother Bingham and proposed to purchase the farm for use as a city. Brother Bingham agreed and Brigham Young paid out of his own pocket for his farm, then turned over the land to the city. Brother Daniel Wells remembered carrying a flag pole when a ten acre square within the donated land was laid out. Lorin Farr, as mayor, proposed to pay President Young 10% on his money and made some payments over the next twenty years. Then President Young asked Lorin Farr how he would feel if the city donated the land back to President Young comprising the ten acres of the square which had been laid out. Brigham proposed to make a Utah Central Railroad Passenger Depot also making it an ornamental square, suitable for a summer resort. There was discussion about it in the city council and Mayor Farr suggested sending a committee to wait on President Young and see about repaying him the full amount of his original purchase price plus ten per cent interest. But finding out all that he wished was the ten acre square, they deeded those acres to him. Shortly thereafter, before President Young could act on his plans, he passed away. Rumors arose that the president had acquired the land unfairly so President Taylor felt obliged to set the record straight by having Lorin Farr talk about the circumstances along with himself and other of the brethren familiar with what had happened. This they did on March 2, 1879. President Taylor asked how many of the brethren would be satisfied with only getting back ten acres of a one hundred and sixty acre purchase. Even an editor from the East could see no wrong in this transaction, seeing how much Brigham Young had done for his people. The church then purchased from the Young estate two and a half acres for a tithing office, which was also criticized and answered in this 1879 meeting. President Taylor felt that there should be full and free disclosure and discussion on this matter to put rumor and errant thinking to rest. Apparently the falsehoods about the transaction had got enough out of hand for President Taylor to call this caucus to present the facts.

Upon Lorin Farr's arrival in Ogden in January of 1850, he organized the Weber Branch of the church. In 1849 James Brown had been named bishop of an LDS ward in the region. Lorin Farr would become at once the most influential man in that region, a distinction he held until his death.

During the first month, Lorin Farr, was sent to preside over the settlements in Weber County . From that point forward he became to the Weber residents what Brigham Young was to the whole church. A stream of settlers would come to Ogden and be under the leadership of President Farr. Bishop Green Taylor related his experience with Lorin Farr when entering the Weber Valley : "On my arrival in Salt Lake City , I called upon Brigham Young. After telling him my story he told me to go to Weber and to get in touch with President Lorin Farr, and he would locate me. On arrival at Farr's Fort , introducing myself, your father said, 'Come in Brother Taylor, we will have a bite to eat and then go out and see what we can find after breakfast.' Getting his buggy we drove out to four Mile Creek, now Harrisville, and standing up in the buggy, he said, 'Brother Taylor, I want you to settle right down here, and from that moment to the present time, I have never regretted it one moment, and your Father and I have might good friends since that time."

In 1850 a band of Shoshone were set to winter on the Bear River . Terikee, the chief, delayed by friendly farewells, camped near the farm of Urban Stewart on Four Mile Creek at what became Harrisville. Stewart hearing Chief Terikee in his corn ordered him out. Not responding quickly enough Stewart fired and missed. Losing his temper he fired again and killed the Chief. Fearing his rash act he rushed to Ogden for safety. Stewart came to the home of Lorin Farr about two o'clock in the morning. Lorin rebuked him and then told him to escape if he wished to save his scalp. While he did so, President Farr looked after his family. The next morning a band of Utes hearing of Terikee's death came and buried him. Lorin Farr wrote Brigham Young requesting that Dimick Huntington or Barney Ward, Indian interpreters come to Ogden to talk to the Indians. The Shoshone were sure to return for revenge. They came, burning Stewart's house and grain. The Shoshoni demanded that Stewart be turned over to them by nine o'clock on September 17th or they would destroy the settlers in Ogden . They killed and scalped a millwright named Campbell who worked for Lorin. Brigham Young sent 150 mounted militia to assist the settlers. Lorin Farr sent several men to warn others of the uprising. A group of Utes participated in the spirit of revenge by joining the Terikee Band and charged towards the Barker home. David Moore saw them ready to burn down their home. Then the Indians saw Mr. Moore and charged him. He went into the house for a gun and heard a voice telling him to put the gun back in the corner. He went out to face the Indians, who fired guns over his head. David Moore, an Indian peacemaker, talked them into arranging to meet with Lorin Farr. After their parlay the Indians took off for the North with 150 men of the militia following them as far as Cache Valley before they abandoned the chase. There was trouble on and off with the Indians for the next few years.

We learn more of the killing of Chief Terikee's death and other Indian problems in Weber County from Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol 8, pgs. 117-122. Due to Indian difficulties Lorin Farr under direction from Brigham Young organized the first company of militia. All male members of the settlement were enrolled. Cyrus C. Canfield was elected captain with Francillo Durfee as first lieutenant. Chief Terikee had been a good Indian, always being friendly with the whites. The day before his death the chief and his wife came over to President Farr where he was building his mills and bid him farewell. Then the chief returned to his camp near Stewart's ranch. It seems that the chief was driving his ponies out of Stewart's corn with no intention of stealing anything when the fateful shot was fired. Stewart immediately rushed to his neighbor David Moore to inform him of his rash act. Moore severely rebuked him and then Stewart went door to door telling the other settlers of his act. None would take him in, fearful that they would be attacked by the Indians. After he contacted President Farr as already reported, he was counseled by President Farr to escape if he desired to keep his scalp. Then President Farr dispatched ten or twelve men northward as far as Utah Hot Springs to gather the scattered cattle. President Farr and Major David Moore went to James Brown's Fort to tell the captain of the impending danger.

In the meantime, Chief Terikee's son jumped on a horse to deliver the sad news to the Indian warriors who were camped near the present site of Brigham City . The Indian's were fierce with rage and mounting their ponies, rode furiously back with the intent of destroying the settlement in Weber County . At this point Captain David Moore went over to the Ute Indian Camp on the Weber River to talk to their leader, Chief Little Soldier. Moore was unarmed and alone. At first Little Soldier was hostile and angry firing a gun over Moore 's head. The Indians demanded that Stewart be turned over to them, but Moore responded that they didn't know where Stewart had fled for safety and that the settlers were very upset and indignant over Stewart's terrible deed. Moore obtained a promise from Little Soldier that they would do no killing or burning until a messenger had been sent to the 'Big Chief, Brigham Young.' Moore then hurried towards Salt Lake City . After Mr. Campbell was killed by the Indians, President Farr sent another messenger, Daniel Burch, to tell Governor Young of the death of Campbell . Both messengers arrived about sundown to deliver their messages. From the Lorin Farr papers in the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University , we have the following written report from Lorin Farr to Brigham Young:

" Ogden Precinct Sep this 16 th 1850. President Brigham Young, Sir. I write a few lines to you to inform of what has transpired here which is something that is grievous to me, which is this, one of our citizens have killed one of the Shoshone Chiefs by the name of Terikee the circumstances are these the chief's band of Indians have been camped neare here some time back. Yesterday his band left here for bearirees To winter there, the Chief and his family did not leave til just at night he wanted to stop and bid us good by' he left here just before sundown , went up three miles on to a creek close to where Br Stewart lives and farms. Just before bedtime Br Stewart went into his garden and corn and herd an Indian in his corn he said he was picking corn he told him to leave he walked off slowly he went into his house and himself and another young man came out with their guns the Indian had not got out of his corn yet he told him to go he did not as fast as he wanted to have him and he busted a cap at him but his gun did not go the young man fired and missed him Br Stewart swift again, his gun went off and killed the Indian he Stewart moves his family immediately into the settlement. Indian band was camped not far from them three or four mile if they good word of the death went this morning and helped the family bury him. What the result will be when his band here of it I don't know I expect that nothing but the man that shot him will satisfy them I am at los to know what course to pursue I would like to have some counsill from you I would like to have Br D. Huntington or Dasney Ward come up as soon as they can and talk with them I would like an answer as quick as posble Yours with respect Lorin Farr. This Statement is as near as I can recollect as Br. Stewart told me."

Within a few hours Brigham Young sent 150 men under the command of General Horace Eldredge north to rescue the settlement at Weber. The company reached Brown's Fort early the next morning. There they had breakfast and then headed northward to overtake the Indians with the hope of reaching a peaceful settlement. Terikee's people, having heard of the approach of the relief company from Salt Lake , took the body of their chief and headed north. Captain Eldredge pursued the Indians about 40 miles up the Bear River before abandoning the quest. They returned to Brown's Fort confident that their pursuit under Governor Young's direction had saved the settlers.

During the latter part of the winter of 1850-51 Terikee's band under the direction of his nephew, Kattatto, located themselves about ten miles west of Farr's Fort on the Weber River. They began to make trouble by stealing and killing cattle. Captain David Moore with a company of about sixty five cavalrymen, surrounded the camp one morning at daybreak and took the Indians prisoners. After a slight show of resistence the fifty warriors and their families agreed to go to Farr's Fort to make terms of peace. Under the formality of a peace treaty the Indians agreed to restore fourfold their thefts and killings of animals. The settlers agreed to the same for any losses the Indians might suffer and the peace treaty in the form of a document was signed by both parties. In 1854 Brigham Young with James Brown as interpreter visited the Shoshone camp. After presents were distributed, President Young advised them it would be good for them to settle down like the white man, cultivate the land, so that when the game was gone they could feed their families. The Indians felt this was 'heap good talk', and their hearts felt good. President Young advised them to learn Christianity and not to be beggars or parasites. After President Young went back to Salt Lake the Indians refused to listen to the whites.

Within a few months there was more trouble with the Indians who were killing cattle, burning fences and terrorizing isolated settlers. On November 20, 1854 William Hickman, L.B. Ryan and Dimick Huntington came from Salt Lake with an order for Major Moore to disarm the Little Soldier and his band of Indians. They were then to take them captive and distribute them among the settlers to feed and clothe them for the winter. At first the Indians refused this idea so the militia allowed them to cross the Ogden River keeping their weapons. When the whites visited the camp the next day they found the Indians hostile and resistive. Finally a squad of armed men persuaded them to come back to Ogden . The plan was for Major Moore to command that each Indian was to give his weapon to a white man who was to take it by force if necessary. James Brown repeated this command in the Indian dialect. At the command no white man moved and so Brown ended up gathering all the weapons himself. An Indian boy leaped on a horse and headed at top speed towards Brigham's Fort. Brown leapt on his horse and followed him right away. They both arrived at the fort at the same time with Brown shouting to the settlers to disarm the Indians right away. This was done and Brown tried to explain the situation to the Indians. His explanation was greeted with stubborn and sullen feelings. The Indian braves felt powerless without their weapons saying they could not provide for their families without their guns.

The final result was that the Indians camped out in the back yards of the whites to receive the help they would need that winter. On December 3 rd a letter came from Brigham Young and for the first time the Indians seemed reconciled to the new order of things. Chief Little Soldier became filled with the spirit of approval of the course that had been taken and he preached this to his people long and hard. After that the Indians and the settlers got along better. The chief became the peacemaker and visited the homes of the settlers as along as he lived. His daughter Mary continued to visit the home of David Moore for many years after her parents had died. The settlers used Little Soldier's knowledge of herbs and natural remedies to battle measles and other illness's.

This history was taken from pgs 68-78 of the Lorin Farr History being written by David J. Farr.